A Visit to Kairakuen for the Plum Blossoms Looking up through the branches and wondering about Kōbuntei’s name

I was walking along the gravel path at Kairakuen when I noticed plum blossoms on a branch right beside me. I’d planned to look out into the distance, but that branch caught my attention and my head tipped up without thinking. I took a breath beneath the flowers and thought I caught a hint of that early-spring scent. I stopped again. Today, I wanted to linger near the blossoms instead of hurrying around the wide garden.

Under my short ivory coat, I wore a lavender knit dress. The morning had been cold, but as I walked in the sunshine, my shoulders slowly relaxed. I clasped my hands in front of me and looked up at the branches; beyond the thin petals, I could see the sky. Just finding a little flower like that at the end of winter made my heart lift.

I’d heard that Kairakuen has around 100 varieties and 3,000 plum trees. That made me curious about one of the neighbouring trees, which I’d thought looked just like the others. I moved a little farther along the path, then stopped again to look at the differences in the flowers and the branches they grew on. I used to think I needed to know all the names to appreciate the blossoms, but now I’m happy just looking at whichever branch catches my eye.

The “Kōbun” in Kōbuntei is another name for plum blossoms. The name comes from an old Chinese story: “When you devote yourself to learning, the plum blossoms bloom.” Tokugawa Nariaki named the pavilion after that tale. When I remembered the name after looking up at the flowers, the garden and the building seemed to come together. A name that had sounded so unfamiliar suddenly felt much easier to remember.

After admiring the flowers, I could look forward to matcha and sweets served in masu cups at Cafe Raku in Kōbuntei. As I took a sip of matcha, the excitement of following the blossoms all morning slowly settled. While I enjoyed something sweet, I thought again about how Kōbuntei got its name. The plum blossoms I’d looked up at a little earlier came back to mind, and even snack time felt like part of my garden walk.

By the time I was leaving, the plum branch that had first made me stop was the one I remembered most. More than all the places I’d seen in that huge garden, I could clearly picture the moment I looked up beneath those blossoms. I was glad I’d bundled up and come, even on such a cold morning. The feeling that I’d come to see the spring flowers lingered even after I got home.